To be sure, Austinites are well-versed in the reputation of the Continental Club and Stubb’s as top-notch live music venues. Now the iconic local nightspots are getting some national recognition after being named among the best venues in the country in a survey by Rolling Stone magazine.

The survey of musicians and music industry professionals honored venues in a handful of different size/capacity categories, naming the Continental the ninth-best among small clubs and Stubb’s as the fifth-best large room. Continental also earned sixth place in the Reader’s Choice category and the simple directive for music fans to “Squeeze in, get sweaty.”

Stubb’s – owned in part by concert and festival promotion titan C3 Presents – has achieved a status as a definite milestone venue in the careers of young bands and features a wide variety of styles on its outdoor large stage and intimate downstairs club. Its management recently began renovating a section of connected retail space for a future expansion, and the area around Stubb’s in the Red River Street area has received cultural district status from the city of Austin.

Two of its owners, John Scott and Eddy Patterson, are also busy with construction of a new bar on South Lamar Boulevard that is expected to be complete by the third quarter of 2014.

Meanwhile, the Continental Club has become a cornerstone for the Austin music scene since it opened 57 years ago, and its location on South Congress — in an area with layers of legal protection against redevelopment — keeps it insulated from economic pressures facing clubs in many other parts of Austin.

Continental Club owner Steve Wertheimer is involved with several other businesses and, with partner Larry McGuire, has been slowly working on converting the former Trophy’s dive bar into a restaurant and live music lounge called C-Boy’s. That venue has been in the works since summer 2012 and the exterior of the South Congress Avenue building suggests it’s still far from completion.